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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMORROW, Buddy(b Muni 'Moe' Zudekoff, 8 February 1919, New Haven CT; d c.27 September 2010) Trombone, bandleader. Joined Yale Collegians; attended Juilliard '34, played with Paul Whiteman, Eddy Duchin, Artie Shaw, Vincent Lopez, Bunny Berigan, Tommy Dorsey in mid- to-late '30s. He is said to have had a scholarship to Juilliard, but left without graduating because he didn't need a degree: he could play. He found studio work; with Bob Crosby '41-2, then first trombone in the U.S. Navy Band, Jimmy Dorsey '45, then more studio work before forming his own band (surprisingly, when the Big Band Era was all but over): it was a very good band, having minor hits with good arrangements of R&B covers on RCA. One of the biggest hits was a cover of Jimmy Forrest's: 'Night Train', which Forrest swiped from Duke Ellington for a no. 1 R&B hit; Morrow's 'Night Train' reached the top 30 pop. 'Hey Mrs Jones' was another cover, an instrumental on a good riff, while Forrest's R&B hit version had a suggestive lyric that wouldn't have gone over too well on AM radio in those days (see Jimmy Forrest). 'Re-enlistment Blues' (sung in the film From Here To Eternity by Merle Travis) and Willie Mabon's 'I Don't Know', with good vocals by Frankie Lester on the last two. Morrow was well recorded; RCA did a better job with him in the early '50s than they did with Elvis Presley in '56. The band made the pop chart on Mercury's Wing label with the film theme 'Man With The Golden Arm' '56. Morrow later led Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey ghost bands between bouts of studio work (including the Tonight Show band in the 1960s). He was still leading a band from a wheelchair when he was over 90 years old. |